Mad Men: "The Good News"Review

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Dick Whitman, Drunk Pryce and Gamera.

By Eric Goldman

In some ways, this episode was a semi-time out for Mad Men, as it mostly followed Don on a return trip to California, where he visited with Anna Draper – but in truth, it was an integral story for Don, though (again) not a happy one.

I have to give high praise to Melinda Page Hamilton, who in just a couple of appearances has invested Anna with an incredible amount of emotion and empathy, creating a character easy to like – and making it easy to see why Don likes, and indeed loves her. As I noted when we first saw Don visit her in Season 2's "The Mountain King," Don is a different man when he's with Anna. Quite literally of course, because she and her acquaintances all know him by his real name, Dick Whitman. And man does Dick seem like a happier, more content guy. Don came very close to just dropping it all and not returning to New York in Season 2, and we again see the warm and happy home Anna offers him here – which may not include passion, but has so much more love than we almost ever saw between he and Betty.

I do wonder just how much misery we can watch Don go through, as all of his happiest moments are being dismantled. Last week, his own actions led to forever corrupting his previously solid relationship with Allison. And this week, he discovered that cancer had struck Anna, and was soon going to take one of his last touchstones away from him.

Don Draper gets happy (briefly),as Dick Whitman returns

The scene where Anna's niece, Stephanie, told Don Anna had cancer was a really striking one. It began with Don making yet another clumsy pass at a young woman who is rebuffing him – something that's becoming much more prevalent lately for a guy no woman used to be able to resist. It was hard not to cringe as Don made that inevitable move towards the college girl, telling her, "You're so beautiful. And young." Jon Hamm was terrific in this scene, as Stephanie suddenly changed the scenario completely, by revealing Anna had cancer. The look on Don's face as he realized the enormity of this, and seemed on the verge of breaking down and crying, was really powerful.

It was interesting how the episode ended with what I'll call "Don and Lane's Excellent Adventure," as Don returned home and ended up having a funny, odd and eventful night with Pryce, who had just learned his wife was leaving him. This scenario almost seemed like it could have been held for another episode, and yet it also showed how Don quickly retreated into booze and his slapilicious hooker, in the wake of discovering Anna's sad fate – how Dick Whitman retreated back into Don Draper, and took Lane Pryce with him.

I'm not sure if Pryce will be happy he impulsively agreed to the hooker Don got him, but I do love that Don and Lane went to a GodzillaGamera movie along the way! Jared Harris was wonderful in these scenes, showing a very different side to the usually reserved Pryce.

Lastly, there was a subplot for Joan that I'm still processing a bit. It's impossible not to hate her husband, Greg, considering we saw him rape Joan – interestingly, an event that also took place in "The Mountain King," which this episode seems to be a specific echo of. That being the case, it was notable that we saw Greg here at his warmest and most caring, as he helped Joan after she cut her finger. We learned that Joan and Greg want to try to have a child (and that Joan has had two abortions from previous relationships), even as the fear that he'll be sent to Vietnam lingers. The moment we found out Greg was joining the Army, it seemed inevitable his story would delve into Vietnam. I'm wondering how much these current actions are meant to build more sympathy for Greg before this occurs… but also trust that Matthew Weiner is well aware of the dark side of Greg he's presented and won't leave it forgotten. Perhaps as this storyline continues, we'll see how these two halves do or do not reconcile.

I continue to enjoy how Weiner and his writers are throwing in little nods to the growing tide of the 1960s – referenced here not only by the Vietnam mentions but when Don learned Stephanie went to Berkeley and asked her if she was "sitting in."

Note: Next week, I'm actually taking (gasp!) a vacation, so there won't be any Mad Men review, but my intention is to catch up on reviewing the episode I missed, plus the brand new episode, two weeks from now.